Writing Comes From Reading

 

Writing Comes From Reading

Reading opens the gate of thinking; it lets you explore the other possibilities of thoughts

By Mukesh Sharma

The most difficult thing in the world is to create new thought / idea; sow it in the mind; let it germinate and catch the roots; nurture it well until it flowers and bears the fruits.

Barring a few blessed exceptions, the majority of common souls steal the thoughts from one source or the other; it is further forwarded passing it off as own; some repackage it; and a few smarts plagiaries it claiming brazenly it as their own baby. And In such whirlpool, the original creator of thought / idea is lost without trace.

Reading prompts to write

 

Such slyly stolen feats which have been mastered by the over smart Indians can be spotted on social media easily.

Are we bringing up a generation of apes – well versed in the art of copying? Unmindful of the fact that Photostat machine can never produce originals.

Many students of this teacher-turned- blogger ask a common question. Why are they not able to think what to write and how to write? They say when it comes to writing, their mind goes blank or they are able to lay their mind on oft-repeatedly stale thoughts only – nothing new, nothing original, and nothing unique, all hackneyed or rotten thoughts.

Usually, this blogger tells his students that writing is serious business, don’t take it lightly; it must be taken seriously, particularly, if you look at the literary works right from Geoffrey Chaucer (the father of English literature) to present day writers. Their works may be different in genre but all have one common quality – all are voracious readers. Of course, good writing emanates from good reading habit only. A well read man can write well.

Reading is like listening to authors; it is like enjoying the swim through the pond of thoughts of a writer; it is like going on hiking and discovering new trees and plants of thoughts. Never shirk reading, whenever, wherever and whatever you find worth-reading, do read it. Watching entertains the mind but reading activates the mind. Watching reveals the possibility. Reading tells you what can be made possible. The most of the successful people in the world are habitual readers.

Warren Edward Buffet, an American investor business tycoon whose net worth is pegged over US 85.6 billion. When someone asked him about the key to success, he said:

“Read 500 pages every day. That is how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest. All of you can do it but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”

Elon Reeve Musk, the founder CEO and Chief designer of Space X, says he has taught himself to build rocket by reading.

Tony Robbins, an American author, Coach, and Speaker reveals that he grew up with an alcoholic mother and various abusive fathers. He attributes books to saving his life and shaping him into a leader he is today and further says:

“I took a speed reading course and read 700 books in seven years – all on psychology, philosophy, anything that could make difference in life.”

Jawaharlal Nehru was a voracious reader. He would read a lot in jail. The popular and very well acknowledged book and a must read for every Indian, “The Discovery of India” was written by him while serving jail terms during struggle for independence. So was Mahatma Gandhi, a good reader and a great writer. His book “My Experiments with truth” is worth reading.

The great scientist Late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a pride of India whose life is source of inspiration to all, says:

“Books are my favorite friends. And I consider my home library with many thousands books, to be my greatest wealth. Every new book based on some new idea, inspires me and gives me a new thought to pioneer.”

J.k. Rowling, the most celebrated authoress who grew up to write master piece “Harry Potter”, started writing at the age of 6, says:

“I lived for books from the young age. I  wanted to become a writer. I  had a burning desire to become a writer.”

Barrack Obama, ex-president of US says:

“When I was not working, the weekends would usually find me alone in an empty apartment making do with the company of books”

So this brings home a point that one must read a lot; make it a habit and see how one grows up as a writer. Reading opens the gate of thinking; it lets you explore other possibilities of thoughts. To a non-native speaker of English, it helps to widen the horizon of words and feeds the mind with new syntax / sentences. As for energy one must eat, one must read to write.

 

Of Haunting Hunger

Right from birth to death, hunger continues to haunt man in one way or the other; it’s a cog in the wheel of life

By Mukesh Sharma

No living creature can beat it. None can conquer it. It is invincible. It is master of all the forms of life. All are its slave. Each and every living being knows it and experiences it. Be it king or commoner, all serve it alike without question. Yet it is unquenchable. It is undisputed and unchallenged ruler of the living world. From tiny protozoan to huge mammals, all work for it. Like God, it is omnipresent and all pervasive. It is basis of life on the earth. Even mother Nature nourishes the world through it. Of course, its name is Hunger – the haunting Hunger.

The Haunting Hunger

 

All through millions of years, it is the hunger that has developed a simple monkey into a present day complicated man. It is the hunger that has taken a savage man from cramped cave to commodious castle, from ordinary house to spacious bungalow, from bullock-cart to space satellite, and surprisingly enough, from Adam and Eve to nearly 7 billion populace on the earth.

Hunger has amazing dualistic character. Hunger is life as well as death – a crying baby is born with hunger and a decrepit man dies with hunger for ‘heaven’ on death-bed. Hunger is love as well as hate  – hunger for more and more ‘my’ – my kids, my house, my money, etc. is ‘love’ and hunger for dislike is hate. Hunger is progress as well as regress – hunger for betterment results in progress and hunger for other’s possessions leads to regress. Hunger is knowledge as well as ignorance – hunger to know the secrets of nature is knowledge and hunger for ego-serving is ignorance. Hunger is devotion as well as distraction – hunger for goal is devotion and hunger for the gratification of senses is distraction. Hunger is a man as well as woman – hunger of a man for a woman-body is man, hunger of a woman for a complete man is woman. Hunger is God as well as human – hunger beyond self is God and hunger for self is human. Like the imagination of a mind, hunger can be expanded to infinity and can be shrunk to a size of an atom. Hunger is both constructive and destructive.

Through human perspective, hunger can be divided into four categories:

1.       Physical hunger

2.       Psychological hunger

3.       Intellectual hunger

4.       Spiritual hunger

Physical hunger can be described as a natural or biological hunger – hunger for food and hunger for sex. It is common to all animals including man. Food is first priority and sex is next. Food is must to live and sex for the furtherance of progeny – both essential for the perpetuation of life on the earth.

Psychological hunger is a distorted hunger emanating from unbridled desires. A man turns epicurean or hedonistic seeking sensuous satisfaction – wine, woman and wealth – an insatiable lust. Fire can’t be extinguished with fire. The uncontrolled ‘hunger’ for wine, woman and wealth has been the cause of the downfall and doom of wealthiest emperor/knight/regimes.

Intellectual hunger is the hunger for the knowledge of the secrets of nature; it leads to discoveries and inventions. Credit for all kinds of advancement in human society so far goes to intellectual hunger only. It is this hunger that has produced great many philosophers, writers, poets and scientists -  Aristotle, Shakespeare, Kalidaas, Albert Einstein, Stephn Hawkings –  the list is very long.

Spiritual hunger is the hunger for the knowledge of unseen and unknown super natural power so named God. What is God? Where does God live? How to meet the God? All these intriguing questions have been nagging man since the advent of man on the earth. However, this spiritual hunger has blessed the world with Lord Rama - God incarnate, Lord Krishna - God incarnate, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad and Guru Nanak; it has bestowed on timeless scriptures like The Upanishad, The Gita, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, The Bible,  The Holy Quran, The Guru Granth Sahib.

Right from birth to death, hunger continues to haunt man in one or the other. Hunger is the cog in the wheel of life.

Of Wayward Words

(Humour)

Of Wayward Words

More coquettish than the sulking girl friend; it is easier to persuade her than the words

By Mukesh Sharma

After the unseen so-called omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent god, the three ‘abstract’ nouns which remain incomprehensible and inscrutable to the most of moron men like this blogger too throughout their fugitive like span, are: World, Women and Words.

The Way of the World remains unknown to celebrated playwright like William Congreves. Renowned Indian scribe Khuswant Singh said to have died at a matured age with lots of confusions about women. And the words are still a mystery for the most of the people and populace across the world. Expressing his doubts, even a learned writer W.Somerset Maughm says:

“I often think how much easier life would have been for me and how much time I would have saved if I had known the alphabet. I can never tell where I and J stand without G, H to myself first”

like words, cocking a snook

In this man known universe, everything is a word. The man knows nothing that is not a word. The man tries to know and understand everything through words only. The knowledge is acquired through words; it is transferred from one generation to other through words. Even the almighty God is at the mercy of the words. The man can’t think of a life or existence without words. It is the words that separate this two-legged so-called man from other creatures of vast animal kingdom.

Words are nothing but the distinctive sounds. And sounds often dissipate in space. To stop this, the man has tried to give shapes to each sound what these different shapes are called words. It is the sound and shapes that have helped the man to get so-called civilized in comparison to other animals.

Love is a word. Sex is a word. Man is a word. Woman is a word. Marriage is a word. Child is a word. Family is a word. Society is a word. Government is a word. This world is a word. All celestial objects  are mere words. Even the God is a word.

The startling fact is that it is not easy to propitiate words, and earn their blessings. However, there are three categories of the people who are the blessed friends of the words -  Indian Baba, smart Businessman and  wily Neta, found across the world.

To a Baba (so-called religious guru), the words come naturally. In the choicest words, he evokes the emotions of the unsuspecting masses. His well crafted words couched in some parables and fables touch the chord. With the help of words, a Baba can make followers believe that he is God unto himself; he can emancipate them from all the ills of the life; he can make their life heaven. Mesmerized with the words of the Baba, the disciples listen the discourse with rather suspended disbelief as movies are watched, and surrender their soul to ‘devil’. The fall out of this all is many a Babas has been accused of sexual assault, sexual abuse and rape, and now incarcerated in jails. However, come what may, there is no dearth of their disciples who still believe that their gurus are god-incarnates and have been falsely implicated.

Next in the line is businessman. Blessed with words’ blessings almost all the successful businessmen right from small-time to tycoon, all know how to use the standardized words to get Yes Power. A businessman knows how to use words purposefully – if can’t convince, he confuses; if can’t confuse, he corrupts. His Yes Power is phenomenal. He is a practical Dale Carneige. Well versed with power of words, he knows how to use the right words  at right place and at the right time. And he touches the dizzy height just because of the undue favour of the words.

The second last in the list is the most blessed rather a blue-eyed boy of the words so-called Neta. He is the master player in using the words as a juggler shows his feats with the sleight of his hands. None can beat a neta in the art of circumlocution, elocution, sophism, rhetorics and demagogy. He lies convincingly. He can ‘die’ for the country without touching the ground. He can be declared martyred without firing or receiving a bullet. Even a PhD can’t stand against the gift of the gab. Like a warrior, a neta goes on the  stage; he speaks out and conquers the crowd. And analogy can be drawn from Julius Caesar: “He came, he saw, he conquered.” Not only that it is well said: “One who conquers the stage, conquers the word.”

A neta, perhaps, has an inbuilt qualities to tease out the wool and knit a sweater. He remains in full command of himself and his audience. As a dealer in ‘hopes’, he manufactures ‘hope’ faster than any mint plant printing currency. ‘Hope’ is a deadly weapon to tame the crowd. No need to fulfill. Hope often feeds on hope, and it is the staple diet of the common man.

Among all above blessed lots, the hapless writers/scribes are the least blessed. Like a pagan, a pen-pusher has to propitiate the words; invoke the muse. Despite all devotion and dedication, words don’t smile on them easily. Sometimes, words lay pliant in the arms of the thoughts of a writer but it is not necessary that they will reach the orgasm.

To a writer,  words never come straight. They come in the form of Simile – a literary challenge to bring a comparison between two objects of different kinds (she fought like a tigress). As a Metaphor, an implied simile but not simile (she was lioness in the fight). Lure of Personification is well known to all the scribes – treating inanimate object and abstract nouns as living being (laughter holding both her sides). Apostrophe, a direct address to the dead, to the absent or to a personified object or idea ( O Death, be my refuge). Hyperbole, to make an emphatic statement (if river were dry, I would fill it with tears). Euphemism, the description of a disagreeable thing by an agreeable name (it is a fairy tale). Antithesis, to bring about a contrast of words or sentiments in a sentence (man proposes, God disposes). Oxymoron, where two contradictory qualities are predicted at once of the same thing (people accept the kind cruelty of a surgeon’s knife). Epigram, a quip to attract the attention (child is the father of the man). Irony, where the real meaning is exactly the opposite if what has been conveyed literally (and Brutus is an hon’ble man). Pun, to produce the ludicrous effect (life depends on liver). Synecdoche, to designate the whole to designate the part (she has many months to feed). Transferred Epithet to transfer an adjective from its proper word to another (I passed a sleepless night). Litotes to convey an affirmative by negation of the opposite (the man is no fool). Rhetorical Question to ask a question for question sake (am I an Indian here). Exclamation to draw an attention to something. (what a piece of work is Modi). Climax to arrange idea in ascending order. And Anticlimax to show the sudden descent from higher to lower in order to satire or ridicule.

A writer always remains at war like India with its ever mounting population. Even Chanakya Niti fails in the matter of words. To an ever struggling scribe, words remain WAYWARD like a footlose teenager. It is easier to persuade a sulking girl friend than the words.